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Rockwell Medical shares hit the deck after the company reports a wider net loss than expected. Find out what investors should really have their eyes on instead.

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Rockwell Medical(NASDAQ:RMTI), a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies to treat end-stage renal disease and chronic kidney disease, fell as much as 10% after the company reported its first-quarter earnings results after the closing bell last night.

So what: For the quarter, Rockwell Medical reported revenue of $13 million, a 5% increase over the year-ago quarter, as gross profit jumped 31%, to $1.7 million, and research and development expenses tumbled 64%, to just $4.6 million. The company's net loss for the quarter was practically halved, down 49%, to $7.8 million, or $0.20 per share, from $15.4 million, or $0.72 per share in Q1 2013. By comparison, Wall Street was anticipating a narrower net loss of just $0.14 per share.

Now what: While Rockwell didn't go into a lot of detail about its earnings results, the only factor that really had a demonstrable change was its reduced R&D expenses with the absence of its Triferic trial costs. While investors might feel enticed to duck and cover based on today's wider loss, they should really be focused on the outcome of Rockwell's new drug application filing for Triferic as an iron replacement therapy during dialysis. Triferic performed remarkably well in trials, and my personal expectation is that it'll be approved by the Food and Drug Administration. With annual peak sales expected to be $150 million-$250 million for Triferic (if approved), and the company's costs coming down considerably, I suspect there could be decent upside in shares over the long run following today's swoon.

Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.

Author

A Fool since 2010, and a graduate from UC San Diego with a B.A. in Economics, Sean specializes in the healthcare sector and investment planning. You'll often find him writing about Obamacare, marijuana, drug and device development, Social Security, taxes, retirement issues and general macroeconomic topics of interest. Follow @TMFUltraLong